New Testament Commentary - Revelation 12

by Don R. Hender

Scriptural Text [& Editorial]	Commentary & Explanation	Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
CHAPTER 12 John sees the imminent apostasy of the Church—He also sees the war in heaven in the beginning when Satan was cast out—He sees the continuation of that war on earth.	John sees the coming apostasy of the Church—He also sees the days of the war in heaven in the beginning when Satan stood before God to accuse Christ and his followers and oppose the Plan of God and his subsequently being cast out of heave and the presence of God the Father—He also sees that Satan continues that war upon this earth.
The Drama of Time and Eternity In a symbolic representation the drama of heaven and earth is here portrayed. The Women can be characterized in a number of ways, the followers of Christ, the Church of Christ, The people of God, The Course of God and his Plan, Those of the righteous City, Jerusalem and so forth. The dragon is of course is Lucifer, Satan the Devil. The Child is the Messiah, the Christ Child, even Jesus Christ who is Jehovah in whom our deliverance is to be found, in him and none else.
1 ^aAND there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a ^bwoman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars^a: 2 And she being with ^achild cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.	1^a a crown of twelve stars It is of interest to note here the order and organization of a kingdom of heaven, of our God. It consists as a part of its governing body a council of 12, represented here as the 'twelve stars' of the crown of the symbolic woman. That all the spirit children of the Father were counted as the 'stars of heaven' is conveyed in the fact that even the third part of heaven led away by Lucifer were also so referred to as the 'stars of heaven' (see verse 4).
3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. 4 And his tail drew the ^athird part of the stars of heaven^a, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.	4^a the third part of the stars of heaven Lucifer in the war in heaven drew away after him a third part of the host of heaven. This in itself is very sad and tragic that a third part of those who were our brothers and sisters did so rebel against God their Father and His Plan of Exaltation and against those of us who were the followers of Jesus Christ the true heir of the Father.
5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a ^arod of iron^a: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. 6 And the ^awoman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.	5^a to rule all nations with a rod of iron In the Book of Mormon and in our Hymns we learn that the 'iron rod' is the Word of God. The Word of God being that Word of his mouth as delivered by his rightful representative of this second estate, who is Jesus Christ, even Jehovah, who is the rightful heir and Ministering God of this Second Estate as so selected, anointed and endowed under the hand of God the Father. The concept that the Word of God, being the commandments of God, are of iron, is that they are unulterable, fixed. That is were there is a law, it is irrevocable, and only by compliance to the law is the blessing of heaven to be obtained. Of course this is made possible by the mercy and grace of Jesus Christ to imput unto each of us his righteousness through the atonement as be come unto him in repentance and subject ourselves unto him in all things.
7 And there was ^awar in heaven: ^bMichael and his ^cangels fought against the ^ddragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, 8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in ^aheaven.
9 And the great dragon was ^acast out, that old serpent, called the ^bDevil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 10 And I heard a loud ^avoice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and ^bstrength, and the kingdom of our God, and the ^cpower of his Christ: for the ^daccuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. 11 And they ^aovercame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their ^btestimony; and they loved not their lives unto the ^cdeath.
12 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. 13 And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he ^apersecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.
The Vision of All and the Sea of Glass The vision of God spans eternity while the perspective of man seldom reaches beyond the lifetime of one man. God sees the 'eternal now', all things before his eyes as one congruent picture. God and his angels dwell upon a Celestial Sphere which is like a 'sea of glass and fire, where all things for their glory are manifest, past, present, and future, and are continually before the Lord.' (D&C 130:7) This will be the the eventual state, the immortal and eternal state of earth when sanctified and transformed into its own Celestial state. (D&C 77:1 (Q&A)) Thus God does see and reveal to man a vision of all things in that 'vision of all' of which this vision to John is a representation of from John's persective and experience. Thus it must not seem stange that John's report does come from the perspective of all before him, past, present and furture, as one eternal whole and 'prophetically perfect' state of being, from the mother Eve to Rachel to Mary, the mother of man, the priesthood order of man descends from Adam to Joseph to Jesus, and the woman's child is representativer of all who hear the voice of God and counted as 'his people', Israel. Thus when the 'woman' is given the two wings of the eagle for here refuge it is that time sweeping perspective of the eternal now which sees the promised lands of the Americas, north and south, as that which housed such as Adam to Noah and also the children of Lehi, and as well the remnant of the covenant which was, has and will brought/bring forth the the fulfilling of the covenant to the nations of the earth that they might be blessed as so stated to such as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
14 And to the woman were given ^atwo wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place^a, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. 15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. Land Shadowing with Wings In Isaiah 18:1 it speaks of the land shadowing with wings, which has been given to refer to the lands of the Americas, north and south by LDS Church leaders.	14^a to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place To some this is not an easily determined inference. To others they image various applications. The woman, which we will take to infer those who are the people of God which may include upon one duration of time the very 'remnant of Israel' so taken and preserved by the Lord, is to be 'taken' to 'her place' in the wilderness via 'two wings of a great eagle'. When considering the application and meaning of that land in or of the shadow of wings, it is an easy matter to see in this a reference to the Americas, 'the land of Joseph' which was reserved unto him, the remnant of Joseph to be used in the the latter days as that land leading up to the great millennial day and the establishment of the New Jerusalem there. That the people of the woman have been brought to the Americas is a matter covered in the Book of Mormon, both historically in the Nephites, Lamanites and Mulekites as well as currently in the preparing for and rolling forth of the kingdom of God in the latter days.	1^a Isa. 18:1; Ps. 17:8; Ps. 36:7; Ps. 57:1; Ps. 63:7 ^b TG Baptism; TG Conversion ^b TG Swearing ^c Deut. 6:13 ^c Isa. 29:13 ^d Jer. 4;2; Jer. 5:2 2^a Isa. 52:1; TG Jerusalem 2^a TG Jerusalem ^b TG Hypocrisy; TG Prophets, Rejection of ^b EI pretend to rely upon
16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. 17 And the ^adragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make ^bwar with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.